By Adedapo Adesanya

Nigeria is seeking to deepen its long-standing energy partnership with a fellow member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Venezuela, inviting the South American nation’s companies to tap into its oil sector.

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Mr Heineken Lokpobiri, made the call while receiving the Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to Nigeria, Mr Alberto Castellar Padilla, alongside the Embassy’s Counsellor, Mr Alvaro Tadeo Guzman Pereira, and the Chief Executive Officer of Sherwood Valley, Mr Jose Luis Adrianza.

In a statement on X, Mr Lokpobiri encouraged Venezuelan companies to explore Nigeria’s oil sector, stressing that such investments would create mutually beneficial outcomes and strengthen energy cooperation between the two nations.

“Nigeria remains committed to maintaining her longstanding bilateral relationship with global energy players such as Venezuela, which has been a cornerstone of our cooperation over the years.

“I seized the opportunity to encourage Venezuelan companies to explore the numerous investment opportunities within our oil industry. This, I believe, will foster mutually beneficial outcomes, enhance energy cooperation, and further solidify the enduring ties between our two nations,” the Minister stated.

The meeting comes as Nigeria seeks to attract more foreign capital to boost oil production, modernise infrastructure, and expand exploration activities. Industry analysts note that collaboration with Venezuela, one of the world’s largest proven oil reserve holders, could unlock new synergies for upstream and downstream projects.

Both OPEC countries have historically collaborated on production strategies, market stability measures, and exchange of technical expertise.

Mr Lokpobiri emphasised that strengthening such relationships is critical to Nigeria’s energy future. “Our partnership with Venezuela is not just about shared OPEC membership; it is about shared goals of economic prosperity, energy security, and sustainable development,” he said.

Venezuelan Ambassador Padilla expressed appreciation for Nigeria’s warm reception and reiterated his country’s willingness to deepen cooperation in oil, gas, and other strategic sectors.

The engagement is expected to pave the way for follow-up discussions on potential joint ventures, technology transfer, and knowledge sharing between both nations’ energy industries.

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

​The need for the creation of a single financial statements portal for companies to strengthen corporate governance has been emphasised by the chief executive of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, Mr Rabiu Olowo.

The former Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State gave this suggestion when he visited his counterpart at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Mr Hussaini Ishaq Magaji (SAN).

He submitted that the single platform would eliminate the filing of two different financial statements by companies to beat the laws of the land.

Mr Olowo said he was at the CAC to seek cooperation and foster inter-agency synergy for economic growth and good corporate governance, noting that both agencies have a joint responsibility to ensure the success of the Nigerian Code of Corporate Governance 2018.

According to him, some public firms file supposedly dubious different sets of financial statements to different regulators, calling for joint monitoring.

He also stressed the need for the CAC to ensure alignment in the verification and certification of financial statements companies submit to the CAC to comply with the international financial reporting standards.

While speaking on his organisation’s mandate as regards verification of professionals and firm ownership, Mr Olowo said the CAC portal, especially the Beneficial Ownership Register (BOR), was critical to discharging their responsibility.

In his remarks, Mr Magaji described the visit as timely and strategic, considering the commission’s ongoing transition to an Artificial Intelligence Registration Portal.

He maintained that integration with the FRC was vital to ensuring that credible financial statements were filed by public companies, expressing the readiness of his agency to partner in the area of capacity building, among others.

It was learned that a committee was set up to examine and evaluate potential areas of immediate collaboration with a view to improve corporate governance in the country.

By Adedapo Adesanya

Africa-focused venture capital firm, TLcom Capital, has reached a 50 per cent deployment milestone in its $5 million pre-seed fund, TAPSI (TIDE Africa Pre Seed Investments), following its most recent investment in the $2 million seed round by TurnStay, the South African travel payment platform.

TAPSI was launched in 2022 to extend TLcom’s investment reach to pre-seed stage companies, providing up to $200,000 in funding alongside access to the firm’s global network, operational expertise, and over two decades of experience in African venture investing.

The fund acts as an upstream feeder vehicle for TLcom’s core $154 million TIDE Africa Fund II, enabling portfolio companies that perform well to progress to larger funding rounds.

In addition to Turnstay, the TAPSI portfolio currently includes Talstack (Nigeria), Bright Financial (Sudan and Ethiopia), Tradehub (Egypt), Agrails (Kenya) and three startups backed through its partnership with First Check Africa, which focuses on delivering early-stage capital to female founders.

Through TAPSI, TLcom expects to close on up to ten additional pre-seed investments before the end of 2026 and will continue to invest in diverse founding teams across Africa’s major innovation hubs.

Already, TLcom boasts one of African tech’s most impressive early-stage portfolios, including Pula, uLesson, Autochek, FairMoney, Educatly, HUB2, ILLA, Littlefish, Seamless HR, and Andela – one of the continent’s tech unicorns. With approximately $250 million under management, including the $154 million TIDE Africa II, TLcom is dedicated to empowering ambitious entrepreneurs who are solving critical challenges in large, underserved markets.

Building on the investment approach of TLcom’s TIDE Fund I and TIDE Fund II, TAPSI is sector-agnostic and focuses on key sectors where TLcom sees strong early-stage potential for outsized impact. Talstack’s journey demonstrates this approach in practice, leveraging its TAPSI pre-seed funding to validate its model and achieve early traction, culminating in a subsequent seed round from TIDE Fund II in 2024.

According to a statement, TLcom said the dedicated pre-seed fund strengthens its position as a multi-stage investor, reflecting the firm’s deep understanding of the funding lifecycle of the African tech ecosystem and the critical role early capital plays in setting African startups on a path to scale and create impact.

According to Ms Eloho Omame, Partner at TLcom Capital, says, “Pre-seed investments allow us to expand our portfolio and allocate capital across multiple stages of a company’s lifecycle. Our goal is to create massive value in underserved markets and collaborate with African founders to build from the start all the way to exit; be it an acquisition or in the form of an IPO. This is by no means easy for any start-up, in any sector; building in Africa is not for the faint-hearted. However, the likelihood of success significantly increases if we support and work with founders earlier on in their journeys and we grow alongside them”.

Eloho Omame concludes, “With TAPSI as a dedicated pre-seed arm of our investment platform, TLcom is uniquely positioned to back companies across their entire growth journey from ideation and product-market fit to scaling and maturity, reinforcing our role as a long-term partner to Africa’s most ambitious founders. As we progress with this fund, we look forward to speaking with and supporting more early-stage start-ups from across the continent,” she added.